Research Guides: American Politics and US Government Research: US Political Races Research

News and Analysis Sources

Google News Alerts
Create a Google News alert for your candidate here. There is also a Google News app. In the app do a search for your candidate and then save that search.
Newspapers by State
Real Clear Politics
News and Polling aggregator with some original content from a broad range of perspectives.
Open Secrets
Analyses the impact of money in politics.

US News Sources from ZSR

Multi-Source Databases for US News

These database allow you to search across hundreds of national news sources at one time.

America's News This link opens in a new window
Features national, regional and local news from across the United States from the 1980s to the present. Includes the Winston-Salem Journal. A great resource for getting news from regional and local news sources. Coverage: 1980s-
Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
Contains articles published in ethnic and minority newspapers and magazines (primarily published in the US), and in international scholarly journals (primarily english language) that focus on ethnic and minority issues. Coverage: 1995-
Newspaper Source Plus This link opens in a new window
Full text for many major U.S. and international newspapers, including the New York Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, the London Times, and others. Also includes some television and radio news transcripts. Coverage: 1985-
Nexis Uni (Formerly LexisNexis Academic) This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources. To limit your search to news - select that in the content type drop-down on the far right of the search box.
ProQuest Recent Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Contains 18 newspapers with coverage beginning in the late 2000s through present with a three-month embargo. Titles include Barron's, LA Times, Newsday, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, and more.
U.S. Newsstream This link opens in a new window
Current U.S. news content and archives that stretch back into the 1980s. Provides key national and regional news sources from the U.S. and includes full text from The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Newsday, and Chicago Tribune.

Elections Data

Voting and Elections This link opens in a new window
Contains in-depth data about U.S. Presidential, Congressional, and Gubernatorial campaigns and elections, historical and modern. Data export tools allow for customized data downloads for statistical analysis. Also includes information about voter demographics and political parties. Coverage: 1789-2012

MIT's Election Data Lab
Provides both research and datasets on elections in the US.
American National Election Studies (ANES)
ANES produces high quality data from its own surveys on voting, public opinion, and political participation.
Daily Kos Elections Data by Congressional District
Presidential general election returns and some statewide returns (e.g., governor, senator, state attorney general, etc.) broken down by congressional district and state legislative district. 2000-2008 available here as well as Presidential election results by media market, 1980-2016. Excellent methodology document explains sourcing and calculation methods and well illustrates the complexities of electoral geographies. Data in Google sheets.
U.S. Historical Election Returns Datasets, 1788-1990
ICPSR data collection of county-level electoral returns for all parties and candidates. Data are most complete from 1824 on. 1950–1990 are available as election year files; 1824–1950 are multi-year state files. (Also includes congressional and gubernatorial elections.)
Electoral Data for Counties in the United States: Presidential and Congressional Races, 1840-1972 (ICPSR 8611)
County-level returns for general elections to the presidency. The variables for the presidential vote include the percentages of ballots cast for major and "significant" minor party candidates, and estimates of voter turnout. Congressional district numbers are also reported for each county for every election. In Stata, SAS, and SPSS formats.
Vital Statistics on the Presidency
Wide range of statistics on presidential selection and elections, including: primary and party convention results (1968–2012); nomination methods by state (1968–2012); popular and electoral votes by state (1789–2012); presidential and Congressional party alignment (1824–2012); turnout by state (1824–2012); vote share by demographic group, national (1952–2012)

Tables in Excel or .csv format
List of United States official election results by state
Wikipedia table with links to each state's election division and official returns. Includes coverage dates for available returns.
State and Local Elections Offices

Polling Info and Data

Roper Center Public Opinion Archives This link opens in a new window
One of the world's leading archives of social science data, specializing in data from surveys of public opinion. Covers opinions on social issues, politics, pop culture, international affairs, and more. Most of the data are from the United States, but over 50 nations are represented. Coverage: 1935-present

Candidate/Race Information

Keeping Up With Your Races

The following sites will help you keep up with the races you are following. In addition to these, you should also be checking the main newspaper for the capitol of the state your race is in.

National Journal's Hotline
Hotline is a news site from National Journal with stories only about US elections. Covers national and state races.
Real Clear Politics
Provides news and data on elections.

Other Race Data

These sites provide data on races that could be important for researching political races.

Project VoteSmart
Biographies, speeches, positions, ratings, funding sources, etc. on elected officials and candidates for US national races.
Ballotpedia
Articles and information about races at all levels of government.
State Elections Offices
Federal Elections Commission Data
Data on campaign finances and donors.
Open Secrets
Tracks money in politics in the US.
ProPublica
Track what sitting members of congress say and do including how they vote.
National Council of State Legislatures
US Elections Web Archive
Archived copies of past candidate web sites.

District/State Information

NOTE ON 2022 & 2024 DISTRICTS

Since 2022 was the first election after redistricting, and changes in many states between that and 2024 meant lines have been or are going to be redrawn (like in NC) many of our data sources will not have accurate district boundaries. You are looking for boundaries for the 118th Congress (2022) or the 119th Congress (2024). This may make doing research on districts a bit trickier. Meet with Roz Tedford or Morgan Ritchie-Baum for help on doing data research on new districts!

Almanac of American Politics
You can search for a particular district to get district information. It also has in-depth biographies of House and Senate members. Includes their committees, their areas of interest, their full staffs, and race information.
My Congressional District (Census)
Allows you to select a district and get data on that district.
US Census Bureau
Demographics, social data, employment, crime, etc.

SAGE Data This link opens in a new window
With SAGE Data (formerly called Data Planet), you can scan and search the contents of billions of datasets, compare and contrast variables of interest, and create customized views in tables, maps, rankings, and charts. Views also include descriptive summaries of the datasets and data sources. Coverage: Details not available
PolicyMap This link opens in a new window
PolicyMap lets you limit data by Congressional District (use the Boundaries tool). Then you can see a variety of data points relating to your district.

State Elections Offices

Rosalind Tedford

She/Her

Email Me

Contact:

ZSR Library
Room 457A

Subjects: African American Studies, American History, English Literature, Law, Political Science, Social Sciences - General

American Politics and US Government Research: US Political Races Research

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